Dick Martz,  His Collection of

Hunting Horns

                 


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Medieval Arms
Germany
Roman Cornu (repro.)
2008

062


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
A.S.
Germany?
Parforce Horn in C basso
ca. 1800?


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
anonymous
France
Petite Cor de Chasse in D
ca. 1860?

070


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Arsène Zöe Lecomte
Paris, France
Trompe Dauphine in D
ca. 1880

063


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Courcier & Prétet
Besançon, France
Trompe de Chasse in D
ca. 1890?


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
anonymous
France or Belgium
Trompe Maricourt
ca. 1890?

068


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Elless
France
Trompe de Chasse in D
ca. 1900


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Pélisson, Guinot & Blanchon
Lyon-Paris, France
Trompe de Chasse in D
ca. 1900


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Erste Wiener Productiv
Vienna, Austria
Waldhorn in E
ca. 1900


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
F. Van Cauwelaert
Brussels, Belgium
Cor de Chasse in C
ca. 1903


069


Maker:
Location:
Model:
Year:
Wolfram
Markneukirchen, DDR
Parforce Horn
ca. 1950

061



  
At left is a Roman bronze legionary  corcine's (horn player's) brooch in the shape of his cornu. It dates from the 2nd to 3rd century A.D. The diamond on the holding staff indicates that the player was a member of the Legio IV Flavia Felix. It was found in the Balkins (ancient Moesia Thacia/Dacia) at a site of an ancient battllefield or legionary settlement.  Legionary musicians were not only the motivators going into battle, but they also provided communications for the legions. The Legio IV Flavia Felix was raised by Vespasian in 70 A.D. from the former Legion IV Macedonia. The following year it moved east into Upper Moesia (Serbia) ad Singidunum (Belgrade) to take part in the first Dacian War (101-102) and then north into Sarmigethusa after the second invasion of Dacia (Hungary), 105-107. With the reign of Hadrian the legion moved back permanently to Singidunum.


   
Saint Hubert (AD 656-727) was the son of the Duke of Aquitaine and led a wealthy and self-indulgent life, including an ardent passion for the chase.  On Good Friday 683 he was in the Forest of Ardennes when he found himself facing the vision of a stag bearing a crucifix between its antlers. This caused Hubert to renounce his dukedom, to take holy orders and to live for a time as a hermit in the forest, before becoming Bishop of Tongres, then of Liège. St. Hubert is the patron saint of the hunt, andSt. Hubert's day is celebrated on November 3, often with a mass performed with hunting horns. At  left, "The Conversion of St Hubert", by the Master of the Life of the Virgin, Cologne, c.1480-85.




La Venerie de Jacques du Fouilloux was first published in Poitiers in 1561. It was the first French hunt book after the introduction of printing and was a great success due to its clarityand logical structure, and was illustrated with 56 woodcuts in a simple but understandable way. It was published in numerous subsequent editions in France and in translation in Germany, Italy and England, the latter as late as 1908.


          
Marc-Antoine de Dampierre was born December 24, 1676 at Pisseleu, near Saint-Omer en Chaussée. In 1722 the Duc de Gesvres named him Gentilhomme des Menus Plaisirs du Roi.  As a "gentleman of the small delights", he was now responsible for all royal hunts and each had a room in the castles of Fontainebleau, Rambouillet, Compiègne and Saint-Germain. It is said that he chose to use a large trompe in D of 4.05 meters from the church horns that were tested and employed by the head of the Chapelle Royale, Andre Campra (1660 - 1744). He is credited with establishing D as the standard pitch for the hunt and designing the Trompe Dampierre in collaboration with Raoux in about 1723.  This is a 1.5 coil horn pitched in D of 72.9 cm. diameter. In 1729 he designed the Trompe Dauphine, made by Lebrun and named for the son of Louis XV.  It is a 2.5 coil horn at the same pitch as the Trompe Dampierre but at about two thirds the diameter. Even though this was much easier to manage during the hunt, Dampierre continued to use the larger horn.




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